


Keeping Pretenses

by LastHope



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: About 6 years post Canon, Arguably Canon Divergent, Canon Disabled Character, Established Relationship, F/M, Izaya's an ass, Post-Ketsu, Post-Series, Spoilers for Light Novels, wedding fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 15:26:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9241526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastHope/pseuds/LastHope
Summary: Aoba and Kururi got married today. At their wedding party, they had an unexpected, but not completely unwelcome, guest.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! This can be seen as in the same universe as _Let Sleeping Dogs Lay_ , but you don't need to read that to understand this. This is 7 years after the series ended.
> 
> References for Japanese Wedding/Wedding Party taken from here: http://factsanddetails.com/japan/cat18/sub117/item617.html

They’d just finished the first rounds of toasts and the food was just being brought out when Aoba noticed the man standing by the entrance of the reception hall. He was talking quietly with a member of the waitstaff, looking wholesomely unassuming that had Aoba not taken a second look he would not have realized who it was.

Dressed in a suit for the occasion, taking slow measured steps behind the waitstaff, looking hardly any older than he had the last time anyone saw him, was the one person neither he nor Kururi expected to arrive today. There was an honorary spot for him at the table with Aoba’s own parents and Mairu, but he hadn’t even been sent an invitation. (One was made for him, yes, but no one _knew,_ so no one could send it.)

Aoba grabbed his new-wife’s hand under the table and squeezed it gently. Kururi hadn’t noticed the new guest apparently, looking over at him with a questioning gaze, before Aoba gestured minutely over to Mairu’s table, and the male headed for it. A small gasp that left Kururi’s lips told him that she recognized him just as he had.

After almost seven years of having disappeared off the map, Orihara Izaya walked back into Ikebukuro as if nothing ever happened, in time for his sister’s wedding reception.

“Is it really?” Kururi whispered to him over her food, eyes locked on the man they both were assuming to be her brother.

“We’ll know if Mairu flips out when he gets to the table.” Aoba whispered back, having abandoned his own dinner as well to see the outcome.

Sure enough, there was the sound of clattering dishware as Mairu tried to leap out of her seat as her missing brother took a seat at the table next to her. She was stopped, the newlyweds noticed, by Izaya resting a hand on her shoulder as he sat down. Still, the small ruckus Mairu caused caught the attention of nearby tables, other guests looking to see what had happened. Both could see Izaya raising a finger to his lips to shush the youngest Orihara, his lips moving as he said something to his sister.

“He’s probably telling her to calm down,” Kururi said to Aoba as they returned to their dinner, both of their attention still very much on the table that housed their family members. “Not to make a scene.”

“Please, your brother thrives off of being the center of attention,” Aoba tried not to snort too loudly. “He’s probably disappointed that there wasn’t a _bigger_  fuss at him turning up after seven years of being gone.”

They kept up this mocking of the conversation going on at their family’s table for the rest of the meal, until it was about time for them to cut the cake and light the candles. Before the announcement could be made, the schedule was thrown off by Mairu standing abruptly, tapping a fork against the side of her champagne glass.

“Attention everyone!” She called brightly, looking around the reception hall. At her side, Kururi and Aoba could see Izaya giving Mairu a panicked look and tugging at the side of her dress, and it only took that to deduce what their sister was doing. “Before our lovely newlywed couple cuts the cake, we have one more _important_  speech for you guys to listen to!” She paused, most likely for effect, as well as to accommodate for the groans from guests anticipating another long speech from Mairu.

“So,” She continued once they had died down, “Let’s give a welcome the only other member of our family that could give a damn at being here, our brother Izaya!”

Whispers erupted among the guests, all of them looking at one another as Mairu set down her glass and bodily hauled her brother out of his seat.

“Shizuo, no!” They could hear from their table, and Aoba and Kururi watched as at Shizuo’s table Shinra and Celty grabbed the other man to haul him back in his seat and keep him sitting as he tried to look around to find Izaya.

Izaya, for his part, stood up with some reluctance, and didn’t look at the reception around him, choosing to focus instead on his sister at the table at the front of the hall.

“And here I thought I could crash my sister’s wedding unnoticed,” Izaya attempted to laugh off his appearance. Very few people spared a chuckle for him. “Thank you for that introduction Mairu.”

Dead silence. Seven years of being gone still hadn’t done anything to warm the people of Ikebukuro up to Izaya.

What followed, needless to say, was painfully awkward. Aoba wasn’t sure if it was because of the nearly palpable tension, because Izaya hadn’t been present for the past seven years of his sister’s life to be able to really say anything, or simply because Izaya himself was just socially awkward when it came to things like this.

When Izaya was finished, it was dead silence and took Kururi taking the initiative to clap for her brother to even get a weak clap going for his words. He sat down quickly, seemingly happy for the whole ordeal to be over with.

From there, Aoba and Kururi went on to cut the cake, and then light the candles at each table. After that, they read the letter that was meant to thank both their parents for helping with the wedding, but was more thanking Aoba’s parents than anything. Then, they had relative freedom as karaoke started and they could mingle with the guests more freely than they had before the reception.

Kururi wasted no time in being the first one to make it to Izaya throwing her arms around her stunned brother.

“You came,” She said simply while Aoba hung slightly back from his new brother-in-law, choosing to stand near his parents instead. “You missed the ceremony, but you came.”

“And I chewed him out for it during dinner!” Mairu brightly contributed while Izaya looked in no way chastised for his actions.

“In my defense,” Izaya replied calmly, “You both made it difficult for me by not sending out an invitation.”

“We didn’t have an address to send it to Izaya,” Aoba interjected himself into a conversation he probably shouldn’t have. “That would have made it a bit easier for all of us.”

“That is true.” Izaya shrugged in agreement, but didn’t engage the conversation any further than that.

As the night progressed, Izaya continued refusing to let slip where exactly he had spent the past seven years whenever he was asked, no matter how many times Aoba or his sisters tried to get him to slip up. In retaliation, Mairu (and Kururi, as well) forced their brother up for karaoke at least six different times over the duration of the night. Aoba, luckily, was only forced up for one song with Kururi. He didn’t stick at the table with his parents and his new in-laws, choosing to try and make small talk with Mikado and Anri, but Aoba kept an eye over there. Something wasn’t right with Izaya, and Aoba wasn’t sure what.

Aoba couldn’t figure it out, watching Izaya periodically throughout the night. The only thing he really noticed about his new brother-in-law was the measured steps Izaya would take between the table and the karaoke stage, not rushing his ascent or descent from the stage, and the tiny, barely there, huff of breath he’d release when he’d return to the table. And really, that could just be Izaya’s lackluster attitude about karaoke, and him not wanting to do it.

Before long, the night was over. Kururi gave a bouquet to her new mother and father-in-law and Aoba, in lieu of the Orihara parents not being there, awkwardly shoved his bouquet in the direction of Mairu and Izaya, not really wanting to choose which sibling to hand it to. His father thanked everyone for coming, and then the guests started filtering out of the hall.

Aoba and Kururi stayed back until everyone left. Aoba’s parents left in the middle of everyone leaving, bidding their son and new daughter-in-law farewell with the reason of having work early in the morning. Mairu stayed until almost everyone was gone, mainly because Izaya still hadn’t left, and she was taking the opportunity to continue trying to make up for six years of lost harassment chances.

“How long are you staying?” Mairu asked at one point, most of the guests gone, the only noise coming from the waitstaff beginning to clear the room. “And I mean in Ikebukuro, before you get it in your wise-ass head to think I mean at the reception hall. Or do you only have a one-night pass before you have to return to Hell where you were given permission to return for this night only?”

Callous, but Aoba had long since learned that callous and rude remarks ran in the family and it was Mairu’s way of showing she cared.

“Just this night, unfortunately,” Izaya didn’t even blink at his sister’s remark, tapping something out on his phone before looking up. “I have work I need to do that can’t wait.”

“Thanks for coming,” And before anyone could blink, Kururi had thrown herself against her brother, pressed up against his side for a hug. “Even if you missed the ceremony, I’m glad you came back.”

“Yeah,” Mairu agreed, pressing herself against her brother’s other side in a hug as well. “You’re still a horrible person, but at least you came.”

There was a tacit “ _We missed you”_ hanging in the air, unsaid by either of the twins, but Izaya seemed to get the message. After a few minutes, the twins released their brother, and Aoba pretended he didn’t see the soft smile that was horrendously out of place on Izaya’s face as he looked (fondly, really?) down at his sisters. 

“Oh! Before I forget!” The smile was gone, the usual snark back as Izaya reached into an inner pocket in his suit jacket. He pulled out an envelope, passing it over his sister’s heads to hand directly to Aoba. “It’s not much of a wedding gift, but it’s better than nothing.”

“What is it? What is it?” Mairu demanded, as if she was the one receiving the gift instead of Aoba and Kururi.

“Wait until you get home to open it,” Izaya directed the request towards Aoba, which was probably the reason he handed the envelope directly to him. Mairu scowled and booed, but didn’t press Aoba to open it.

Pulling out his phone, Izaya looked at it and said, “With that it’s time for me to go.” He reached a hand out, ruffling Mairu’s hair, pausing a moment before doing the same to Kururi as well. “It was nice seeing you again.”

As he was leaving, Kururi and Mairu moved in tandem, both grabbing the same shirt sleeve before their brother could get even half way out the hall.

“Call,” Kururi blurted out when Izaya looked back at them. “Please.”

“Yeah!” Mairu nodded, “Call us sometime you asshole, don’t just leave us in the dark for six years again! Not even six months! Wait, not even six weeks! And visit!”

There was an unmistakable look of surprise on Izaya’s face, very much caught off guard by his sister’s words. 

“Ah, we’ll see,” Izaya hesitantly complied. “I make no guarantees.”

The twins reluctantly released Izaya’s sleeve, and he waved goodbye to them, giving a curt nod in Aoba’s direction.

Almost as soon as he was out of the reception hall, Mairu pounced on Aoba, demanding, “Open it, open it, open it!”

“Okay,” Aoba shrugged, because he hadn’t intended on waiting until they got home to open it in the first place. Honestly, he had been debating on whether or not to open it at all.

And so he opened it.

“ _Eh?”_

_“What?”_

_“Seriously?!”  
_

The three stared at the contents of the envelope.

“He can’t be serious,” Mairu whispered to her sister, still staring at the contents. 

“No way,” Kururi seemed to agree.

“We can’t accept this,” Aoba said, not sure if it was pride or agitation keeping him from wanting to accept Izaya’s gift. He looked at the doors. “He’s probably still here, I’m going to go tell him we can’t take this. Stay here.”

Aoba took the envelope and, without waiting for Kururi or Mairu to say anything, he stormed out of the hall, intent on finding Izaya and giving him a piece of his mind.

It didn’t take long to find the eldest Orihara. Izaya hadn’t even left the parking lot by the time Aoba got outside.

“Thanks for picking me up Kine,” Aoba caught Izaya saying. He turned and headed in the direction where he heard the man.

“Don’t thank me,” Kine said to Izaya, the voices getting louder as Aoba rounded the corner of the parking lot. “Your physical therapist’s going to kill you tomorrow.”

Aoba barely had time to ponder why Izaya would need a physical therapist before he saw.

Izaya was halfway through saying “I don’t think I’m going back,” when Aoba’s half-stuttered, “Izaya,” broke him off. 

For a moment, Aoba wasn’t sure how to react, before he recovered, quickly deciding to react by not, by acting like nothing was different.

“Izaya,” Aoba repeated himself, firmer than last time, crossing the distance of the parking lot. He held out the envelope that had held their wedding gift. “Kururi and I can’t accept this.”

“Ah, but it’s a gift Aoba-kun!” The Cheshire grin Izaya had been so famous for back in the day was perfectly affixed on his face, after a split second of surprise when Aoba had first appeared. “That’s the whole point, for you to accept it.”

“You think you can waltz back into your sisters lives after _six years_  and pretend that nothing happened?” Aoba demanded, knowing now that his ire at the gift was more from Izaya’s audacity to show up tonight like nothing had happened, like he had never been gone in the first place, rather than from the gift itself. “You think you can _buy_  your sisters’ forgiveness?”

Izaya narrowed his eyes at Aoba, took a measured breath, and slowly released the tension from his fingers.

“You think this is me trying to _buy_ my sisters’ forgiveness?” Izaya’s voice held a dark calm that spoke of more fury than what his tone actually conveyed. “You think I’m ‘waltzing back into my sisters’ lives’? That I’m pretending nothing happened?” He barked a sharp laugh, spread his arms wide, as if to indicate to the scene before Aoba. “Does it _look_  like I’m capable of doing much waltzing Aoba-kun? Does it _look_  like I can pretend nothing happened?”

“I’m not sure what I’m looking at, to be honest,” Aoba snapped back. “But I’m pretty sure I’m looking at the same liar everyone saw six years ago, or are you going to say that’s different?”

“Boys,” Kine broke in between them just as Izaya actually raised his voice, saying,

“Have you heard of the phrase ‘keeping pretenses’, Aoba-kun?” Izaya spoke over Kine, staring Aoba down. His knuckles were white, clenched tightly. “If you haven’t, it’s quite simple - it’s when someone pretends that something never happened so others are kept unaware.”

“Believe it or not, I _wanted_  to be here tonight; I _wanted_ to attend my sister’s wedding,” Izaya continued. “ _This_ ,” he jabbed his chin down, “ _no one_ knows about. No one in Ikebukuro, aside from Kine. And I _don’t_ want anyone to know.”

Izaya took a deep breath, and minutely released his grip.

“So,” He forced a cordial smile to his lips, canting his head to the side as he stared at Aoba. “If you don’t want to accept my thoughtful wedding gift as it was intended, then why don’t you take it as a bribe? To keep your mouth shut about this. The first lies of a marriage should always be _fun_ , shouldn’t they?”

Aoba clenched his fist, gritting his teeth in anger. That _asshole_.

“Fine,” Aoba said, even though he didn’t really want to. “I’ll keep it. _We’ll_  keep it. But not as some shitty bribe to keep your secret - because Kururi would want to.”

“How sweet,” Izaya cooed, but his face had fallen flat, as if he didn’t like Aoba's decision. 

“I hope you die,” Aoba informed Izaya, who simply shrugged.

“Join the team!” He replied with faux cheer, “It’s becoming more and more likely every day.”

It seemed that was that. Aoba stood in the parking lot, watching long enough to witness Kine lift Izaya out of his wheelchair and place him in the passenger side seat of his car with the practiced ease of someone who had done it several times before - most likely for years - before folding up the wheelchair and stowing it in the back. He watched Kine pull the car out, drive it from the lot, before trudging back inside, where Kururi and Mairu were still waiting.

“Ah, should have known it,” Mairu crowed, spying the envelope still in Aoba’s hand when he returned. “Iza-nii refused to take it back. What excuse did he give? Or couldn’t you find him, because he’d vanished back with the devil?”

“Aoba?” Kururi asked after a moment, when he hadn’t responded.

From this point, he had a choice: he could do what Izaya had said, and lie to Kururi and Mairu about their brother, or Aoba could tell the twins what he had saw and what happened. It was an obvious choice.

And Aoba didn’t hesitate in telling the twins what had transpired.

‘Keeping pretenses’?

_Yeah right._

* * *

 


End file.
